UK wants to let drivers carry virtual licenses in Apple Wallet

The United Kingdom is in the process of researching and testing the use of Apple Wallet as a valid driver’s license. Drivers will only need to use their phones to pull up their drivers’ licenses instead of carrying around a physical version.

This could mean that really soon, more and more people will only need to carry keys and a phone and will no longer need to worry about carrying a physical wallet. However, availability of Apple Pay is what is still slowing this down from becoming a reality.

The CEO of UK’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) shared an image on Twitter that shows us a picture of a sample license with the caption: “So here’s a little prototype of something we’re working on #drivinglicense”. The picture was referred to as a prototype, so who knows how long it will take before the virtual card will become a valid form of identification.

Such a move could make it easier for people to steal identities but it isn’t like people can't still make counterfeit (physical) ID cards these days. What do you think, would you love to be able to just carry your driver's license card in virtual form on your smartphone? Or do you think virtual ID cards could be a recipe for disaster?